


Hasetsu Days

by Ame (Ulan)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Hasetsu, M/M, Slow Build, Vignettes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 13:44:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10641030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ulan/pseuds/Ame
Summary: Come, butterflyIt's late--We have miles to go together.To Yuuri, life in Hasetsu suddenly seemed surreal ever since Viktor came along. (To Viktor, everything became surreal ever since he met Yuuri Katsuki.)





	1. The household gets a new member (Spring, pre-GPF)

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wrestling with writer's block for a while now, so to try to ease myself back into writing, I thought to immerse myself in a single world and take inspiration from there. I have always been a fan of Yuuri and Viktor's life in Hasetsu, which is why I am always, always so thankful that YOI was set in such a safe and peaceful place, perfect for healing and for delicate things like love to bloom. 
> 
> Hasetsu Days is a full blog in Tumblr! See the full Hasetsu Days experience [here](http://hasetsudays.tumblr.com). 
> 
> The quote in the summary is from a haiku written by Matsuo Basho.

Yuuri enters the inn with a sigh of exhaustion, a shovel in one hand as he slides the wooden doors closed behind him. With the stray blizzard coming down again the night before, the pathways around their family inn needed clearing again.

Really -- snow. In April. 

Yuuri was in the middle of shaking his head, smiling at the memory of pink petals dotting the white snow outside - an odd picture, to be sure - when his mother's head suddenly pops out from the kitchen. 

"Yuuri!" greets Hiroko with her usual cheer. "Right on time. Could you call everyone down? Lunch is ready." 

"Ah-- yes." 

The shovel goes back into storage; the scarf around his neck pulled out of the loose knot to hang around his neck as he trudges slowly up the stairs. On the way, he noticed Mari puttering about in the kitchen with Mom and the other cooks, which means that it is only Dad who needs to be called, and of course--

Yuuri swallows as he reaches the second floor landing. His parents' room is on the third floor, so he can just call Dad later after... after...

The faint sound of keys being tapped on a laptop travels across the deserted hallway. Yuuri takes a deep breath. Right. After this. 

The truth is, he is still not completely convinced that he is not about to wake up from this... admittedly vivid dream. It has to be a dream, doesn't it? Just as he comes slinking back in defeat to small, quiet Hasetsu, an unexpected guest arrives - a great, breathtaking, larger than life and completely unexpected guest whose face adorned Yuuri's walls since childhood up to... oh, yesterday. 

"Um... excuse me."

Viktor Nikiforov -- _Viktor Nikiforov!_ \-- looks up from his laptop, a bright smile spreading almost instantly across his face when he sees Yuuri at his doorway. Yuuri resists the stupid urge to slap his own cheek.

"Yuuri!" greets Viktor, and Yuuri cannot help but note (and blush in embarrassment at) the... strangely musical way the other man says his name. 

That Viktor even knows his name-- No. Okay, Yuuri has to stop this. God, pull it together, Katsuki. You can't faint every time you encounter Viktor... _Viktor Effing Nikiforov_... in Hasetsu... in their family inn, in an unused banquet room-turned-bedroom _right beside Yuuri's own_

"Please go downstairs!" 

Coach Celestino once said that sometimes, one just has to jump in (blindly if need be) and just trudge on, nevermind the potential mess. Yuuri has never been particularly good at heeding that advice, but he is grasping at straws here. 

"F-For lunch, I mean," he explains immediately at the confused look Viktor gives him. "My mom said that lunch is ready."

"Oh! Lunch time already?" A frown suddenly brings that fair face down. "I am so sorry, I lost track of time. I even meant to help out!" Viktor turns to the unsuspecting poodle lying on the floor and begins to scold it. "Makka, why didn't you tell me it had grown so late?" 

"It's all right, really," says Yuuri, watching the interaction between man and sleepy dog with just a hint of bemusement. "My mom has Mari helping out, and she also has assistants around, so-- I mean, it's really fine! You are a guest, after all!" 

If anything, Viktor frowns even deeper as he shakes his head. "Aah, but that won't do, Yuuri. If I am going to be your coach, I will be staying here for a while, won't I? I should pull my own weight." His face suddenly brightens and he follows this up with a wink and a grin. 

This, of course, makes Yuuri flush so badly he expects his neck would start to give off steam very soon. "I'll... aah, just go and call Dad now--"

"Oh, wait!" Viktor sits up straighter. "Let me go with you--"

"No!" Yuuri stammers as the Russian blinks at him in surprise and what almost looks like hurt on his face. He quickly shakes his hands in panic. "I mean, you really don't have to b-because it will just be upstairs--"

"Yeah, I know. I will just put my laptop down."

"No, please, it's just--"

"You don't want to, Yuuri?" Yes, that is definitely a look of hurt, and Yuuri nearly bites his tongue in his attempt to appease.

"No, of course I-- that's not what I--" 

Viktor's face brightens once again and Yuuri staggers, almost as if a spotlight was suddenly switched on right in front of his face. "Okay!" says Viktor, cutting Yuuri off, "so let's go!" 

"Wait-- Viktor!" 

But then there are arms around Yuuri's neck in the next moment and even Makkachin excitedly joining in just a second after, standing on hind legs with his paws on the small of Yuuri's back, effectively sandwiching Yuuri between himself and Viktor. Yuuri yelps, but this just makes Viktor laugh in a way that definitely turns Yuuri's ears even redder, and all Yuuri can think about is that there is no way, absolutely _no way_ , that he would survive through this past spring.


	2. What is in a name? (Spring, pre-GPF)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say (and write) each other's names.

There is something to be said about names. 

Yuuri has been exposed to international figure skating for years and even spent some time in the U.S. He has been called by his first name by far more people than most Japanese guys his age can say. That is why, had he been asked about it maybe a month ago, he probably would have said that he was used to it, that it was not a big deal.

Now, though? Now is a different story. 

"Yuuri." 

The voice that calls him is deep and warm, flowing through Yuuri like waves on the shore at the peak of summer. He knows he blushes every time, feels the blood on the surface of his skin warming him despite this year's uncannily chill spring. Not for the first time does he feel as though he was back in junior high and blushing like an idiot up to the roots of his hair just because the nice new teacher called his name for the daily attendance. 

Although... although this might just be a little bit worse than that. After all, that had just been a teacher, level of attractiveness notwithstanding. By those days, Yuuri was already more or less carrying a steady torch -- albeit unknowingly -- for someone else.

"Yuuri?" 

"Yes!" Yuuri shut his eyes, just barely resisting the urge to look heavenwards in silent plea for mercy as he turns to said someone else -- his specific, enduring and special someone else. He somehow manages a nervous smile. "Viktor. What is it?" 

Viktor Nikiforov -- and wow, that never gets old -- blinks at Yuuri, who just caught the slight look of worry on the Russian man's face, probably due to the earlier lack of response. Viktor just looks at Yuuri now, with a... thoughtful? Right, a thoughtful look on his face. 

"Sorry, I forgot what I was supposed to say," says Viktor, who rests his chin on one hand without breaking his gaze on Yuuri. "Well, nevermind. But you know, I have been thinking this for a while now. I like how you say my name."

"W-What?" 

Considering the contents of Yuuri's thoughts earlier, can one really blame him for feeling so winded? To be fair, he feels that way often around Viktor. Fortunately, Viktor seems to ignore his reaction, and instead just smiles this soft smile that he sometimes does when he is not busy bullying Yuuri. 

Viktor tends to shift moods a lot. He can be petty and he says a lot of mean things, but something about him also tells Yuuri that Viktor is nevertheless kind and quick to smile. It is all pretty confusing and Yuuri figured that it will be a while before he gets a handle of how Viktor really is. 

"A lot of people get it wrong," says Viktor. "Funny enough, Japanese people actually get it wrong often, too. It's the 'v', I think -- I can see it's tricky for them. Then with the people who speak English, they get the vowels wrong. They cut them short in weird places. But you... is it the way you mix English and Japanese, I wonder? You get the 'v' right, and then you also say the vowels right. It's amazing."

Yuuri's eyes fall on his fingers curled in a fist on his lap. "...What?" 

He can feel Viktor's eyes on him, senses it when the other smiles and shakes his head. "Oh, it's nothing. Don't mind me," he says. "I just realized how nice it is to hear one's name said right. You hear it said wrong often enough and somehow you just get used to it. But Yuuri says it properly, and it's nice."

And Viktor sounds so pleased, so nice about it, that Yuuri finds himself speaking. "I..." He swallows. "I have been a fan of yours for a long time. Of course I know how to say your name." And just to make things clear, "It's not... it's not the accent." 

Viktor does not respond immediately and just stares at Yuuri for a while. Yuuri thinks about it only for a moment before he makes an attempt to peek at his... coach? Coach now, right, who is at least is still smiling - wider, even, and with an odd sort of sparkle in his eyes. "You looked it up?" he asks. 

Yuuri looks down again at his restless hands, but still nods. "How to pronounce your name, yeah." 

"Do you know how to write it?" 

"I... think so?" Yuuri looks up at this and quickly waves his hands. "I mean I don't know the alphabet--"

"That's great, Yuuri! Show me?" 

"N-No! It's embarrassing!" 

That was what he said, but somehow Yuuri finds himself wrestled into having a pen and paper before him on the table, nervously tracing by memory how one writes Viktor Nikiforov's name in Cyrillic. The strokes are unsure, but they are there. 

"Wow! That's amazing, Yuuri! You really are my fan, aren't you?" 

Yuuri just buries his face in his hands. "Stop, I bet it looks horrible." 

"No, no, it's really good! See, this is how I would write it." Sometime during the time Yuuri was writing Viktor's name, Viktor moved behind him to watch Yuuri work over his shoulder. From this position, he now leans over, takes the pen from Yuuri and proceeds to write his name below where Yuuri earlier wrote his. His chest is warm against Yuuri's back and this close, Yuuri can sense even the nuances of his cologne. 

God help him. 

"Looks really close, right?" Viktor sits back now, to Yuuri's relief. "Okay, my turn now. Show me how to write your name." 

"Um..." 

Yuuri does, because why not, and why even bother going against the whirlwind that is Viktor Nikiforov? 

"That's..." Viktor squints at the paper once Yuuri is done with it. "That is slightly more complicated than I imagined. Do it again?"

That is how they spend the evening, writing each other's names. Since Yuuri nearly had Viktor's name down, Viktor just teaches him a bit more, writes the names of his coach and rinkmates back in Russia, and eventually writes the equivalent of Yuuri's name that they giggle over like schoolgirls in their more quiet corner of the dining area. 

Yuuri, in turn, spends more time teaching Viktor how to write the kanji for his name. He stomps the near uncontrollable glee that wells in his chest at the picture of Viktor writing his name, pushes back the memories of the times when Viktor's name was Yuuri's standard doodle on the margins of his school notes.

The joy spreads through him now regardless despite his attempts to quell them, and the memories still rise, making it all the more difficult to keep himself from smiling like an idiot. But when Viktor grins up at him as though seeking Yuuri's approval for his latest attempt, Yuuri sighs helplessly in defeat and thinks, 'How bad can it be?' 

He lets himself return the smile.


End file.
